If you didn’t know that the butter cows unveiled at the start of the Iowa and Illinois state fairs weren’t made entirely out of butter, you are not alone — far from it, in fact.
Many fans originally thought the sculptures were made 100% of butter until seeing a behind-the-scenes picture posted to X (formerly Twitter) by @217problems. The photo, which has 15 million views, shows the Illinois State Fair Butter Cow shaven down to reveal the framework under the butter. (The 2023 state fairs in both Illinois and Iowa concluded on Aug. 20.)
“I feel deceived. It should have been a solid block of butter. If we cannot believe in butter cows, what can we believe in,” one person tweeted.
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"???? wait????? it’s not fully butter?????” someone else asked.
"ok so who’s joining the false advertising class action lawsuit because…," wrote another.
“Waaaah!!! Was just there last week, I demand a refund,” tweeted someone else.
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“Seeing the butter cow like this… makes my stomach churn,” joked another X user.
The Butter Cow, which is commissioned by the Midwest Dairy Association, dates back to the 1920s and is a tradition many guests — many of whom, apparently, didn’t realize it wasn’t entirely made of butter — look forward to every year.
The Illinois State Fair website does not disclose all the materials used in its Butter Cow sculpture.
“500 pounds of unsalted butter are used to sculpt the life size figure by hand,” the website reads. “The process takes about five days.” Which means, presumably, since the whole sculpture weighs 800 pounds, the framework underneath the butter weighs about 300 pounds.
TODAY.com reached out to the Illinois State Fair for additional comment.
On the other hand, the Iowa State Fair’s website discloses the materials used to make the sculpture.
“The Butter Cow starts with a wood, metal, wire and steel mesh frame and about 600 lbs. of low moisture, pure cream Iowa butter,” the website reads. “Once inside the 40-degree cooler, layers of butter are applied until a life-size butter cow emerges — measuring about 5-1/2-ft high and 8-ft long. Each year, much of the butter is recycled and can be reused for up to 10 years.”
TODAY.com also reached out to the Iowa State Fair for additional comment.
“I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I feel weirdly betrayed that the Iowa State Fair butter cow turns out to be a mesh sculpture covered in slabs of butter instead of a cow entirely made of butter,” one person tweeted in response to the news.
“my entire life i thought the iowa state fair butter cow was solid butter 😭😭,” wrote another.
This story first appeared on TODAY.com. More from TODAY:
